


Politics, Ice Cream, and the Meaning of Friendship

by theonewithwaytoomanyfandoms



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Best Friends, Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gratuitous Ice Cream References, Healthy Relationships, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-12-26 12:54:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18282764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theonewithwaytoomanyfandoms/pseuds/theonewithwaytoomanyfandoms
Summary: "Love is friendship set on fire"~Jeremy Taylor





	Politics, Ice Cream, and the Meaning of Friendship

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gallisonaf](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gallisonaf/gifts).



When Donna was 12 years old, she thought she had found her best friend.

 

Stephanie was everything a middle schooler could have wanted in a friendship.  She was bold, brave, able to run away from bullies with her, and most of all she was supportive.  She never made fun of Donna for all her hobbies and knowledge, and for a short time, Donna felt like she was normal. Whether it was paying attention in AP English when nobody else would, or it was sitting in Steph’s hayloft talking about who was going to what school senior year, Donna knew that Steph would always be by her side.

 

Until she wasn’t.

 

When Donna dropped out of Wisconsin to support her no-good boyfriend through medical school, not only was she financially restricted, he also cut off her support systems.  Steph was nowhere to be found, and it wasn’t until she left him that Donna figured out that Steph had moved and tried to tell her a year after she left school.  Sometimes, in her most bitter thoughts, Donna thinks that Steph really must not have been much of a friend if she didn’t try harder to find her those two bleak years. 

 

* * *

 

After she abruptly ended her school years, Donna drifted a little bit with her meaningful friendships.  Her asshole ex made sure that for two years the only important person in her life was him, and she had enough self-assurance to realize that looking back, that was no friendship at all.  When she finally left him, teeth gritted and buckled down, she vowed that she would not only go make something of herself out East, but she would also find valuable friendship.  She wanted love and affection eventually, yes.  But finding her best friend, her person in this life was much more important.  That would be the person who would help her discover herself, right? She had to find them.  So, Donna drove to New Hampshire with all her worldly possessions, her own determination, and an address for the Bartlet for America campaign office.

 

* * *

 

 When Donna met Joshua Lyman, she did not expect anything from him except for him being a challenging yet enlightening boss.  For a time, he was exactly that.  Throughout that campaign in 1998 she learned more about politics than she ever thought possible.  She was in the thick of it, and she absolutely loved.  She could tell Josh absolutely loved it too, and that it was a joy for him to share it with anyone who would listen. 

 

The fact that she had gained feelings for him almost instantly was a little bit mind-boggling to her as well.  That was certainly not in her plans for her own life improvement!  She was done with men for a while, she promised herself, and she wanted to establish herself where she belonged.  But Josh was just so wonderful and friendly and accepted her when no one else would from a dark, dark place, and she was so grateful.  And he was incredibly lovely, she just couldn’t help herself.  Not that it would go anywhere.  She was, after all, just his assistant.  And he was her supervisor.  Maybe in some fields that would work, but in national politics? No way would that not be a scandal.  So, she kept her feelings to herself, and continued to strengthen her professional relationship with Josh.  She really didn’t expect anything more.

* * *

 Donna couldn’t have told anyone when her relationship with Josh left the typical boss/assistant realm and into a personal partnership.  It seemed to happen so naturally, that she was in the middle of it before she had even realized that it was happening at all.  She supposed she began to notice near the end of their first full year in the White House, when they were on another one of their expeditions.  Shortly after meeting, Josh and Donna realized a rather odd hobby that they shared: ice cream tasting.  Everywhere they had ever lived or traveled, it was their mission to figure out where the best ice cream in town was.  When Donna moved permanently to Washington, Josh had made it his mission to catch Donna up to speed to everything that he had discovered so far.  Nearly a year later, they still weren’t finished exploring all the ice cream parlors DC had to offer.  It was on this excursion that Donna truly realized how close she and Josh were becoming.

 

“Donna, that had to have been the 50th shop we’ve visited since you moved here, and that’s including all of the one’s I’ve been to!” Josh exclaimed.  “I really don’t know how we’re going to sustain this, DC really doesn’t have _that_ many ice cream places do they?”

 

“Josh, this is a science.  I have them all written down, c’mon! You think I wouldn’t take this seriously? We’ve visited exactly 46 places, and if I’m not mistaken, we have at least 60 more to go.  The District is huge, and plus I put some in Maryland and Virginia that you can get to just for fun.”

 

Josh rolled his eyes.  “We take this way too seriously, ya know? We are lame. Lame people with no lives except for…I don’t know…work, and ice cream, and- oh I don’t know, more work probably.”

 

Donna sighed, “That’s because you _make_ us work so much my friend.  Plus, ice cream testing is serious business, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

 

Josh laughed, but then stopped short.  “Wait, Donnatella, did you just call me _friend_ just now?” he smirked.

 

“What of it? It’s true, you know.” Donna looked at his adorably confused face and smiled.  “Well, obviously you didn’t know.  We are becoming friends Josh, even if I do work for you.”

 

“Yeah…wow. I guess you’re right. Well, to friendship then, I guess!”  Josh smiled and tapped his ice cream cone to Donna’s in imitation of a drink.

 

Donna’s face felt warm.  She loved him, and his oblivious manner.  To be fair, she didn’t realize how close she was getting to him as a friend in the past year, but to completely miss they were friends at all?  Very typically Josh.  She hoped that there would be plenty of ice cream testing in the future and that they could continue to be good friends, if nothing else in the world.  Looking up and watching his warm brown eyes smile at her, she knew that he was becoming a greater friend than she’d had in a long while. 

* * *

Josh Lyman’s role in Donna’s life as the best friend she’d ever had solidified itself one summer night after a news report that would haunt her for the rest of her life.  When she’d heard that there’d been a shooting at the location of the President’s speech in Virginia, she had drowned out the rest of the words in the report and rushed as quickly as she could to the hospital. 

 

“Donna, Josh was hit.” Toby had told her.

 

“I don’t understand. Hit with what?”

 

“He was shot.”

 

“Is it serious?” she’d asked.

 

“It’s critical,” Toby had replied, not meeting her eyes. 

 

She broke.

* * *

 Her life was a bit of a blur after that. She remembers being at the hospital for nearly 14 hours.  She remembers standing at that window watching him fight for his life for what seemed like forever.  She remembers him waking up and looking at her with such depth of emotions in his eyes that she had to fight not to cry right then and there.  Yes, the man that she loved was alive. But more importantly, her _best friend in the whole world came back to her oh my god._

 

“You’re awake!”

 

He smiled, then grimaced in pain. “You can’t- ouch- get rid of me that easily, Donna,” he rasped.

 

Her eyes were watery when she replied, “I suppose not, Joshua. I suppose not.”

* * *

 They eventually got through his recovery and care, and she remembers those months being some of the most emotionally intimate of her life.  Every day she would kick herself for being too scared to tell him how she really felt, but what good would come out of that?  She was so unsure if he even felt the same way, and that wasn’t the way she wanted to lose her job.  Much more importantly, she was afraid of that old cliché.  _If you tell your feelings, you’ll lose their friendship._ She wouldn’t wish losing a best friend on anybody.  And she’d really just miraculously gotten him back. She refused to lose him again to the embarrassment and awkwardness that was unrequited feelings.  He was her best friend, and she loved him. That was that.

* * *

 The next few years ended up being more of the same hesitation and reticence between the two of them, although maybe not nearly as dramatic as the entire Rosslyn incident had been.  She could read him well enough that she was almost one hundred percent sure that Josh was also in love with her but was also too scared to ruin their friendship to show it.  There were times where she thought it would come out of him in a rush of emotion before, during and after reelection _“I wouldn’t stop for a beer,” “Those stories would make me like you,” “It’s not what it looks like,”_ and _“You look amazing,”_ standing out to her as the most prominent examples of his affection towards her.  Yet however disappointed she was that nothing of a romantic nature came to fruition with him telling her things like that, she was never disappointed in the words themselves.  They were the phrases that her best friend had told her in absolute sincerity, and that he loved her enough platonically to say those things to her was enough to make her feel so, so valued.  She hoped, once again, that they would always have that regardless of what was happening outside their own little Josh and Donna world. Things were getting harder at the White House, and tensions were often high.  She was pushing herself more in her career and while Josh was helping her with that, she worried that there would come a day where he just couldn’t help her anymore and she’d have to go.  She vowed then and there that she wouldn’t let that destroy them.  She had found that best friend she was looking for, and she wasn’t about to let him go.

 

One particularly stressful night in his office had Donna despairing for both of them.  She worried for Josh after the whole Carrick debacle had shot his confidence professionally (and as much as he hated to admit it, a little bit personally).  She also worried that they were pulling apart, not only in finding ways to misdirect their feelings for each other, but also in their friendship.  As she watched him work alongside her, she knew she had to speak up amongst the chaos that was threatening to surround them.

 

“Josh, can I ask you something?”

 

“Evidently, yes, as you already did Donna,” he smirked, always one to bring the banter. 

 

“Okay, turn, you know, _you_ off for five minutes, please?”

 

“Sorry.” It was rare form for Josh Lyman to apologize. “What did you want to ask me?”

 

“Josh,” she began again, “You know that you’re my best friend in the whole world, right?”

 

Josh looked stunned. “I mean-” he sputtered, “I know you’re _mine,_ but I didn’t know- wow Donna.” She giggled a bit at his awestruck face.

 

“C’mon, Josh, give me a little more credit than that! What have all of our ice cream trips been about?”

 

“I thought that was just a con of yours to get me to pay for your bad habits,” he snarked.

 

Donna laughed, “As much as that may be true, nah. You’re my best friend. I don’t know what I’d do without you,” she said with fondness in her voice.

 

He smiled warmly, dimples forming like she’d always loved. “C’mere,” he stood up and opened his arms up to her.

 

She rushed over and gave him a hug, wrapping her arms under his shoulders, while he gripped her back and put his hands in her hair.  It was intimate for sure, but this was just the way they hugged, Donna reasoned. It was filled with so many words that she couldn’t say to him, and she knew that he expressed his emotion so much better in deed than in word.

 

Josh spoke into her shoulder, startling her. “I don’t know what I’d do without _you,_ Donnatella Moss. You’d be just fine without me. Ruling the world, and everything. But I’ll still be your friend, no matter what. Just remember that, okay?”

 

And she tried, she really did. She loved him, and he loved her. But they were friends, best friends. And neither of them had really had a best friend before.  This was too important to lose.

 

 

But then Gaza happened. And he rushed to her side, perfectly ready to tell her he loved her, as both her best friend, but as someone who loved her in every way imaginable. But then the outside world invaded their Josh and Donna bubble. And almost everything after went wrong.

 

She came back. She wasn’t the same.

 

She pulled away and she didn’t understand what was happening to her, no matter how much she confided in Kate Harper. She couldn’t take it anymore. He was trying to help so badly, taking her for ice cream and taking care of her as much as she’d allow, just like she did after Rosslyn. But she was losing herself and she was suffocating, and she had to stop it all and get out, get out, get out.

 

So she left.

 

She begged the powers that be that she hadn’t just lost her best friend.

* * *

 Much of Josh and Donna’s time apart was filled by silence, and she realized that if either of them was capable of communicating like non-emotionally stunted adults, then they would have repaired this bump in the road in their relationship much sooner.  At least she had the self-awareness for that.  She doesn’t regret what she did, moving forward in her life to focus on just herself again, leaving a place that was no longer bringing her the joy it once did.  But she does regret hurting him.  Everyone assumed that she was just angry at Josh for everything under the sun, and she was angry for some things, but beyond that, she just felt hurt and sad that they couldn’t come together as the friends they were and begin to untangle this mess.

* * *

 When Donna had come back to the Santos campaign after Lou Thornton had hired her and she had hashed out the professional battle with Josh, she knew they both had to work to repair their friendship first and foremost if she ever wanted to feel confident about making her move to become even more to him.  She was convinced he was going to do that Josh thing where he bottled up his emotions and gave her no clues towards how he felt about her, but slowly but surely, she was becoming tuned to him again not only as a co-worker but as the friend she was meant to be. She was surprised, then, when Josh brought up the subject himself, showing a display of emotion rarely beknown to him. 

 

“Donna, hang back a minute, would ya?” he asked her after a meeting in the campaign war room.

 

She agreed, nervous that it was going to become a confrontation but confident that her skills and professionalism had been above and beyond since she came to the Santos team.

 

She spoke first. “I know that you probably wanted to go over the media perception we’ve been facing in the Midwest and I think that we could change a few things-” 

 

“Whoa, whoa slow down!” he said, quick to stop her. “Not that I don’t wanna hear that, because I do, and you’ve been doing an incredible job in that region, by the way so I’ll probably sign off on whatever plan you have for us there, that’s not what I wanted to talk about.” Josh said in a rush.

 

“Oh—kay?” Donna was very confused.

 

Josh sighed. “It’s just, I realized through all of this-” he gestured vaguely into the air, “Silence and new dynamics and everything with us, that I’ve been a pretty shitty person for someone who claims to be your best friend.” He exhaled, finally getting that all off his plate.

 

“Josh--”

 

“Please, let me finish Donna, please,” he pleaded.  “I just want you to know that I’m proud of you. You’re doing a fantastic job, and I really shouldn’t have reacted the way I did when you left the White House. It was a nasty thing to do, giving you the cold shoulder. I know things are different for us now, but honestly, I just really want my best friend back. Think that could happen?” he looked at her for the first time in the conversation, hopeful for her answer.

 

Donna smiled. “Yes. Yes, I think that would be just fine. I’ve missed you, Josh. I meant what I said, that you would be my best friend through whatever. That didn’t stop just because we were fighting.  I’d like to think that’s not how friendship works.”

 

Josh laughed in return, “Ya think? Ah-kay, that’s good, that’s good. Well, then. Friends?” he stuck out his hand for her to shake.

 

She laughed at his ridiculousness, even now. “Friends,” she replied, forgoing his hand for one of their hugs. She’d missed these hugs. It felt like coming home.

 

* * *

 

 

The rest of the election season came and went, bringing joy, awkwardness, sorrow, and nervousness to the table.  They caught up in state-by-states and he’d kissed her.  Professionally, she’d snarked that it was bound to happen sometime.  As his newly solidified best friend, she reassured him that it was okay and that these things happened in the heat of the moment sometimes, all while hoping against hope that he still loved her as much as she loved him. 

 

Then Election Day happened, and they’d gone to bed, with all the awkwardness you can imagine with sleeping together with the love of your life (and more importantly, your best friend) ensued.  Donna felt like she’d mucked it all up, and unbeknownst to her, Josh felt the exact same way. 

 

Then Leo had died, and the sorrow had ensued.  Neither of them felt in control of their own lives anymore. 

* * *

 

 During the transition season, they had continued to see each other, but didn’t truly address this new addendum to their relationship. _“Who said anything about talking?”_ Yet Donna knew that they had to grow up sometime, so she’d decided to give him four weeks to figure out this new dynamic, and if neither of them could, maybe it wasn’t worth the trouble of changing the nature of their relationship. Just as long as she could protect their friendship, that would be enough, screw the rest of it.  She was so in love with him, and she still thought he was in love with her.  But they were best friends, and he was her person, and that came first. 

 

Eventually Josh blew up, Sam agreed to help only if Josh left and basically reevaluated his life, and the next thing she knew Donna was on a plane to Hawaii with him, ready to talk about anything and everything that they needed to before this new chapter in their lives. 

 

* * *

 Later, as Donna lay naked and sated in a beautiful room in Hawaii, Josh sleeping by her side, engagement ring on her finger, she sighed.  She was truly content with the way things had turned out and felt like the luckiest person in the universe right then.  She’d done what she’d set out to do that day when she drove to New Hampshire.  She’d made a life for herself professionally, and she had found her best friend and person for life. Hey, she’d even found love along the way.  The fact that the great love of her life and her best friend was just how she believed things were meant to be.  She was so happy that they’d talked fully, in the easy way they’d always been able to do over ice cream or briefing memos.  Her heart felt so full. 

 

Her thoughts were interrupted by Josh stirring at her side. “Josh? You awake?”

 

“Yeah, sweetheart, I am.”

 

She smiled.  He was obviously trying out pet names to see if any would stick.  She thought it was just him being adorable again.

 

“You know, Josh, you’re still my best friend, yeah?”

 

Josh laughed. “I thought I was your fiancé!  What did you say earlier? ‘Love of your life?’ ‘Person forever?’ ‘Hopelessly devoted?’” he smirked and began tickling her side while teasing her.

“Stop it! Stop it! Be serious, c’mon!”

 

Josh sobered. “Yes, of course Donnatella. It’s just so surreal. I love you so much. But you’re also my best friend. I didn’t know—um, I didn’t know that someone could be both, ya know?”

 

Donna smiled, “I know. But honestly? I don’t think I’d feel the same if the person I loved wasn’t also my best friend.”

 

“I love you so much.”

 

“I love you too, Josh. You’re my person.”

 

“You’re my best friend.”

* * *

The road ahead was long, but the road behind them was even longer.  They were here now. They were happy.  Josh and Donna had reconstructed their little bubble, happier and healthier than ever before.  For the good days, they would be with each other.  And for the bad days, they had each other too. 

 

After all, there was always ice cream. 

 

 


End file.
